2 years since an update... wow, this blog is dead! here's a random thought of the night...

i believe it's universal that people periodically dream about being late to a test/interview/play/event, or can't find the room, or are running late due to a million different reasons. why is this? why so many frustrating dreams where we can't ever really get to the 'content' part of the dream? well, behold, fellow dreamers, i have the answer. it is an answer that can never be conclusively proven, but that doesn't mean that it's not exactly correct in every way. i believe we have these frustrating dreams simply because the brain can't think up a good ending. or the parts of the brain that would supply the actual content of where the story line is going is switched off / still sleeping.

i had a dream this week, where i was late for a college organic chemistry test... again. but the dream was early morning, and i was quasi-waking, and could semi-control some of the dream events. going through the typical detours and problems getting to the test room, i forced the dream to get me to that damnable test room. through sheer strong will i found myself in the auditorium, with backpack, pencil, calculator, fully clothed (always a bonus), and ready for the test. nothing was going to stop me from taking that test. so, i pulled out the test from the backpack (why i had the test before hand, who knows) and slapped it on the half-desk top. completely empty. flipped it over. completely empty. it's like my brain never planned on getting me this far along in the dream, and simply had no content written for that test (that it had no intention of ever showing to me)

i had some suspicions in earlier dreams about this theory, but this dream nailed it for me. the reason that doors are locked, that we lost track of time, that we took the wrong turn, forgot the day, forgot the words to the play, forgot how to play the piano, forgot whatever, is simply that the brain has no idea what a good chemistry problem should look like, or what the lines to hamlet should be, or what ANY external content should be. the brain is just processing logistics of walking a physical body around. and cannot do any 'higher level' thinking in dreams. when awake, we aggregate external content and 'solve' it. but when dreaming we're just slumping around, yammering, pointlessly firing the lower-level cylinders of our brain. when we try to apply waking logic of problem solving to dreams, we get that friction, that frustration of trying to use logic and linear thinking to 'solve' problems that aren't relevant or even possible in lala land.

there are no external content providers in dreams, unlike the real world.

so, give up the quest. mold your dreams away from needing to go from points A to B, of relying on a written test, a playbook, a screenplay, a musical score, or a map to proceed. so, there... it's that easy to never have a frustrating dream again.

for all i know, this theory is well known in the psychology/psychiatry or medical brain research circles (i travel in neither circle). but it's new to me. do i win a prize? a "DREAMy award"? and now for my acceptance speech for the dreamy... but i'm dreaming this... so, of course, i can't make my way to the stage... and if i do, i'll trip. i'll be naked, the orchestra will start playing too soon, the lights and mic will not work, and my prepared notes will not be in my pocket. so, instead, i should just hang out in the green room, relax, and eat the comped finger foods and slam some cocktails...